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151-680: The city has an old town, surrounded by a small canal. A castle stood in IJsselstein from 1300 to 1888; the tower survived. The city has two large churches, both named after St. Nicholas : the Dutch Reformed Nicolaas church, founded in 1310, and a Roman Catholic church. Inside the Protestant church there are two mausoleums; one of the family of Gijsbrecht van Amstel (1350) and another of Aleida van Culemborg  [ nl ] (1475). The catholic basilica of St. Nicolaas dates from 1887 and

302-430: A cowl while the daughters are typically shown in bed, dressed in their nightclothes. Many renderings contain a cypress tree or a cross-shaped cupola . The historicity of this incident is disputed. Adam C. English argues for a historical kernel to the legend, noting the story's early attestation as well as the fact that no similar stories were told about any other Christian saints. Jona Lendering, who also argues for

453-460: A lost Life of Saint Nicholas as his source. Nearly all the sources Eustratius references date from the late fourth century to early fifth century, indicating the Life of Saint Nicholas to which he refers was probably written during this time period, shortly after Nicholas's death. The earliest complete account of Nicholas's life that has survived to the present is a Life of Saint Nicholas , written in

604-431: A 14th-century survey of the village of Aphetos, donated to the monastery of Chilandar , the average size of a landholding is only 3.5 modioi (0.08 ha). Taxes placed on rural populations included the kapnikon (Greek: καπνικόν) or hearth tax, the synone (Greek: συνονή) or cash payment frequently affiliated with the kapnikon , the ennomion (Greek: εννόμιον) or pasture tax, and the aerikon (Greek: αέρικον, meaning "of

755-537: A Byzantine Greek woman could be divided into three phases: girlhood , motherhood , and widowhood . Childhood was brief and perilous, even more so for girls than boys. Parents would celebrate the birth of a boy twice as much and there is some evidence of female infanticide (i.e. roadside abandonment and suffocation), though it was contrary to both civil and canon law. Educational opportunities for girls were few: they did not attend regular schools but were taught in groups at home by tutors. With few exceptions, education

906-639: A Greek society. Linguistically, Byzantine or medieval Greek is situated between the Hellenistic ( Koine ) and modern phases of the language. Since as early as the Hellenistic era, Greek had been the lingua franca of the educated elites of the Eastern Mediterranean , spoken natively in the southern Balkans , the Greek islands, Asia Minor, and the ancient and Hellenistic Greek colonies of Southern Italy ,

1057-484: A bribe to put three famous generals to death, in spite of their actual innocence. Saint Nicholas appeared to Constantine and Ablabius in dreams, informing Constantine of the truth and frightening Ablabius into releasing the generals, for fear of Hell . Later versions of the story are more elaborate, interweaving the two stories together. According to one version, Emperor Constantine sent three of his most trusted generals, named Ursos, Nepotianos, and Herpylion, to put down

1208-420: A constant supply of muscle power for the building projects and rural work. Their numbers apparently increased in the late fourth and early fifth centuries as barbarian raids and a desire to avoid taxation pushed rural populations into cities. Since Homeric times, there were several categories of poverty: the ptochos ( πτωχός , "passive poor") was lower than the penes ( πένης , "active poor"). They formed

1359-565: A new church, the Basilica di San Nicola, to Saint Nicholas in Bari. The Pope himself personally placed Nicholas's relics into the tomb beneath the altar of the new church. The removal of Saint Nicholas's relics from Myra and their arrival in Bari is reliably recorded by multiple chroniclers, including Orderic Vitalis and 9 May continued to be celebrated every year by western Christians as the day of Nicholas's "translation". Eastern Orthodox Christians and

1510-482: A normal part of everyday life, much more so than in modern Western societies. While it is difficult to draw a distinction between Roman and Byzantine soldiers from an organizational aspect, it is easier to do so in terms of their social profile. The military handbooks known as the Taktika continued a Hellenistic and Roman tradition, and contain a wealth of information about the appearance, customs, habits, and life of

1661-405: A part of Nicholas' relic as a gift. Whereas the devotional importance of relics and the economics associated with pilgrimages caused the remains of most saints to be divided up and spread over numerous churches in several countries, Saint Nicholas is unusual in that most of his bones have been preserved in one spot: his grave crypt in Bari. Even with the allegedly continuing miracle of the manna,

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1812-540: A rebellion in Phrygia . However, a storm forced them to take refuge in Myra. Unbeknownst to the generals, who were in the harbor, their soldiers further inland were fighting with local merchants and engaging in looting and destruction. Nicholas confronted the generals for allowing their soldiers to misbehave and the generals brought an end to the looting. Immediately after the soldiers had returned to their ships, Nicholas heard word of

1963-729: A result of this, Nicholas became the patron saint of prisoners and those falsely accused of crimes. An index finger claimed to belong to Saint Nicholas was kept in a chapel along the Ostian Way in Rome. Another finger was held in Ventimiglia in Liguria . Today, many churches in Europe, Russia, and the United States claim to possess small relics, such as a tooth or a finger bone. An Irish tradition states that

2114-522: A source written before conversion narratives became popular, which would be a positive indication of that source's reliability. He notes that many of the stories recounted by Michael the Archimandrite closely resemble stories told about the first-century AD Neopythagorean philosopher Apollonius of Tyana in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana , an eight-volume biography of him written in the early third century by

2265-557: A staunch opponent of Arianism and a devoted supporter of Trinitarianism , and one of the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed . Nicholas's attendance at the Council of Nicaea is attested early by Theodore the Lector's list of attendees, which records him as the 151st attendee. However, he is conspicuously never mentioned by Athanasius of Alexandria , the foremost defender of Trinitarianism at

2416-442: A terrible famine, a malicious butcher lured three little children into his house, where he killed them, placing their remains in a barrel to cure, planning to sell them off as ham. Nicholas, visiting the region to care for the hungry, saw through the butcher's lies and resurrected the pickled children by making the sign of the cross . Jona Lendering opines that the story is "without any historical value". Adam C. English notes that

2567-561: A total of three early lists, one of which, Theodore the Lector, is generally considered to be the most accurate. According to Jona Lendering, there are two main possibilities: A later legend, first attested in the fourteenth century, over 1,000 years after Nicholas's death, holds that, during the Council of Nicaea, Nicholas lost his temper and slapped "a certain Arian" across the face. On account of this, Constantine revoked Nicholas's miter and pallium . Steven D. Greydanus concludes that, because of

2718-491: A tree possessed by a demon. In his youth, he is said to have made a pilgrimage to Egypt and Syria Palaestina . Shortly after his return, he became Bishop of Myra . He was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian , but was released after the accession of Constantine . An early list makes him an attendee at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, but he is never mentioned in any writings by people who were at

2869-560: A very strong position in international trade. Despite the challenges posed by rival Italian merchants, they held their own throughout the latter half of the Byzantine Empire's existence. The clergy also held a special place, not only having more freedom than their Western counterparts, but also maintaining a patriarch in Constantinople who was considered the equivalent of the pope . This position of strength had built up over time, for at

3020-582: Is neo-Gothic . It was given the title of ' Basilica Minor ' by Pope Paul VI in 1972. A 366.8 metres high television mast, called the Gerbrandy Tower , is located in IJsselstein. The tower is commonly, and erroneously, referred to as Zendmast Lopik , after the nearby village of Lopik. This Utrecht location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . St. Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari ,

3171-703: Is actually rooted in historical fact. Traditionally, Nicholas was born in the city of Patara ( Lycia et Pamphylia ), a port on the Mediterranean Sea , in Asia Minor in the Roman Empire, to a wealthy family of Greek Christians. According to some accounts, his parents were named Epiphanius ( Ἐπιφάνιος , Epiphánios ) and Johanna ( Ἰωάννα , Iōánna ), but, according to others, they were named Theophanes ( Θεοφάνης , Theophánēs ) and Nonna ( Νόννα , Nónna ). In some accounts, Nicholas's uncle

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3322-684: Is an exonym applied by later historians like Hieronymus Wolf ; "Byzantine" citizens continued to call themselves Romaioi (Romans) in their language. Despite the shift in terminology in the West, the Byzantines Empire's eastern neighbors, such as the Arabs, continued to refer to the Byzantines as "Romans", as for instance in the 30th Surah of the Quran ( Ar-Rum ). The signifier "Roman" ( Rum millet , "Roman nation")

3473-474: Is beginning to change for that of mobile, pro-active agents. The merchant class, particularly that of Constantinople , became a force of its own that could, at times, even threaten the Emperor as it did in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This was achieved through efficient use of credit and other monetary innovations. Merchants invested surplus funds in financial products called chreokoinonia ( χρεοκοινωνία ),

3624-575: Is celebrated on almost every Thursday of the year (together with the Apostles ) with special hymns to him which are found in the liturgical book known as the Octoechos . Soon after the transfer of Saint Nicholas's relics from Myra to Bari, an East Slavic version of his Life and an account of the transfer of his relics were written by a contemporary to this event. Devotional akathists and canons have been composed in his honour, and are frequently chanted by

3775-402: Is not attested in the earliest sources and is therefore unlikely to be historical. One of the earliest attested stories of Saint Nicholas is one in which he saves three innocent men from execution. According to Michael the Archimandrite, three innocent men were condemned to death by the governor Eustathius. As they were about to be executed, Nicholas appeared, pushed the executioner's sword to

3926-538: Is not mentioned by any contemporary chroniclers. This is not surprising, since Nicholas lived during a turbulent time in Roman history . The earliest mentions of Saint Nicholas indicate that, by the sixth century, his following was already well-established. Less than two hundred years after Saint Nicholas's probable death, the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II (ruled 401–450) ordered the building of

4077-522: Is now known as "Saint Nicolas de Port" in honor of Nicholas. The clergy at Bari strategically gave away samples of Nicholas's bones to promote the following and enhance its prestige. Many of these bones were initially kept in Constantinople, but, after the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade , these fragments were scattered across western Europe. A hand claimed to belong to Saint Nicholas

4228-446: Is said that, in Myra, the relics of Saint Nicholas each year exuded a clear watery liquid which smelled like rose water, called manna , or myrrh , which was believed by the faithful to possess miraculous powers. As it was widely known that all Nicholas's relics were at Myra in their sealed sarcophagus, it was rare during this period for forgers of relics to claim to possess those belonging to Saint Nicholas. A solemn bronze statue of

4379-444: Is still an open question. From then on, professional recruiting replaced conscription, and the increasing use of mercenaries in the army was ruinous for the treasury. From the 10th century onwards, there were laws connecting land ownership and military service. While the state never allotted land for obligatory service, soldiers could and did use their pay to buy landed estates, and taxes would be decreased or waived in some cases. What

4530-579: The Black Sea , Western Asia and North Africa . At the beginning of the Byzantine millennium, the koine (Greek: κοινή) remained the basis for spoken Greek and Christian writings, while Attic Greek was the language of the philosophers and orators. As Christianity became the dominant religion, Attic began to be used in Christian writings in addition to and often interspersed with koine Greek. Nonetheless, from

4681-571: The Church of Saint Nicholas in Myra , which thereby preserves an early mention of his name. The Byzantine historian Procopius also mentions that the Emperor Justinian I (ruled 527–565) renovated churches in Constantinople dedicated to Saint Nicholas and Saint Priscus , which may have originally been built as early as c. 490. Nicholas's name also occurs as "Nicholas of Myra of Lycia" on

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4832-565: The First Crusade . Although the Crusaders generally favored warrior saints, which Saint Nicholas was not, the presence of his relics in Bari made him materially accessible. Nicholas's associations with aiding travelers and seafarers also made him a popular choice for veneration. Nicholas's veneration by Crusaders helped promote his following throughout western Europe. After the relics were brought to Bari, they continued to produce "myrrh", much to

4983-725: The Greek-speaking Eastern Romans throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages . They were the main inhabitants of the lands of the Byzantine Empire ( Eastern Roman Empire ), of Constantinople and Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the Greek islands , Cyprus , and portions of the southern Balkans , and formed large minorities, or pluralities, in the coastal urban centres of the Levant and northern Egypt . Throughout their history,

5134-610: The Nativity of Jesus is believed to have taken place. Over the crypt where Nicholas is believed to have lived now stands the "Church of Saint Nicholas" in Beit Jala , a Christian town of which Nicholas is the Patron saint . After visiting the Holy Land, Nicholas returned to Myra. The bishop of Myra, who had succeeded Nicholas's uncle, had recently died and the priests in the city had decided that

5285-492: The Pope in Rome . The ecclesiastical provinces were called eparchies and were headed by archbishops or metropolitans who supervised their subordinate bishops or episkopoi . For most people, however, it was their parish priest or papas (from the Greek word for "father") that was the most recognizable face of the clergy. The Eastern Roman Empire was in language and civilization

5436-563: The Varangian Guard like Greece runestones and the Piraeus Lion which we meet the terms Grikkland (Greece) and Grikkr referring to their ventures in Byzantine Empire and their interaction with the Byzantines. While social mobility was not unknown in Byzantium the order of society was thought of as more enduring, with the average man regarding the court of Heaven to be the archetype of

5587-586: The archdiocese of Bari has allowed for one scientific survey of the bones. In the late 1950s, while the crypt was undergoing much-needed restoration, the bones were removed from it for the first time since their interment in 1089. A special Pontiffical Commission permitted Luigi Martino, a professor of human anatomy at the University of Bari , to examine the bones under the commission's supervision. Martino took thousands of measurements, detailed scientific drawings, photographs, and x-rays. These examinations revealed

5738-560: The laymen , the clergy of the Eastern Roman Empire remained in close contact with the rest of society. Readers and subdeacons were drawn from the laity and expected to be at least twenty years of age while priests and bishops had to be at least 30. Unlike the Latin church , the Byzantine church allowed married priests and deacons, as long as they were married before ordination . Bishops, however, were required to be unmarried. While

5889-500: The lingua franca of commerce became Italian. In the areas of the Crusader kingdoms a classical education (Greek: παιδεία, paideia ) ceased to be a sine qua non of social status, leading to the rise of the vernacular. From this era many beautiful works in the vernacular, often written by people deeply steeped in classical education, are attested. A famous example is the four Ptochoprodromic poems attributed to Theodoros Prodromos. From

6040-426: The "plotting and envy of Satan ." The man could not afford proper dowries for his three daughters. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably, in absence of any other possible employment, be forced to become prostitutes. Hearing of the girls' plight, Nicholas decided to help them, but, being too modest to help the family in public (or to save them the humiliation of accepting charity), he went to

6191-541: The 13th to the 15th centuries, the last centuries of the Empire, there arose several works, including laments, fables, romances, and chronicles, written outside Constantinople, which until then had been the seat of most literature, in an idiom termed by scholars as "Byzantine Koine". However, the diglossia of the Greek-speaking world, which had already started in ancient Greece, continued under Ottoman rule and persisted in

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6342-438: The 5th century BC. It comprised a tripartite system of education that, taking shape during the Hellenistic era, was maintained, with inevitable changes, up until the fall of Constantinople . The stages of education were the elementary school, where pupils ranged from six to ten years, secondary school, where pupils ranged from ten to sixteen, and higher education. Elementary education was widely available throughout most of

6493-453: The 6th at least until the 12th century, Attic remained entrenched in the educational system; while further changes to the spoken language can be postulated for the early and middle Byzantine periods. The population of the Byzantine Empire, at least in its early stages, had a variety of mother tongues including Greek. These included Latin, Aramaic , Coptic , and Caucasian languages , while Cyril Mango also cites evidence for bilingualism in

6644-423: The Archimandrite's Life the only account of Saint Nicholas that is likely to contain any historical truth. Jona Lendering , a Dutch historian of classical antiquity, notes that Michael the Archimandrite's Life does not contain a " conversion narrative ", which was unusual for saints' lives of the period when it was written. He therefore argues that it is possible Michael the Archimandrite may have been relying on

6795-481: The Archimandrite's account, however, Saint Nicholas is instead expressly stated to be motivated by a desire to save the daughters from being sold into prostitution. He argues that this desire to help women is most characteristic of fourth-century Christianity, due to the prominent role women played in the early Christian movement, rather than Greco-Roman paganism or the Christianity of Michael the Archimandrite's time in

6946-462: The Byzantine Empire entered the 11th century, more of the soldiers within the army were either professional men-at-arms or mercenaries . Until the thirteenth century, education within the Byzantine Greek population was more advanced than in the West, particularly at primary school level, resulting in comparatively high literacy rates. Success came easily to Byzantine Greek merchants, who enjoyed

7097-478: The Byzantine Empire's existence, in towns and occasionally in the countryside. This, in turn, ensured that literacy was much more widespread than in Western Europe, at least until the twelfth century. Secondary education was confined to the larger cities while higher education was the exclusive provenance of Constantinople . Though not a society of mass literacy like modern societies, Byzantine society

7248-469: The Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Romans ( Greek : Ῥωμαῖοι , romanized :  Rhōmaîoi ), but are referred to as "Byzantine Greeks" in modern historiography. Latin speakers identified them simply as Greeks or with the term Romaei . The social structure of the Byzantine Greeks was primarily supported by a rural, agrarian base that consisted of the peasantry , and a small fraction of

7399-531: The Byzantines were not considered by Western Europeans as heirs of the Roman Empire, but rather as part of an Eastern Greek kingdom. As the Byzantine Empire declined , the Roman identity survived until its fall in 1453 and beyond. The Ottomans used the designation " Rûm " ("Roman") distinctly for the Ottoman Greeks and the term " Rum millet " ("Roman nation") for all the Eastern Orthodox populations. It

7550-632: The Catholic Church in the West had declared (in 1054 AD) that the Greek church , the official church of the Byzantine Empire, was in schism . Because of the many wars in the region, some Christians were concerned that access to the tomb might become difficult. Taking advantage of the confusion and the loss by the Greek Christian community of Myra of its Byzantine imperial protection, in the spring of 1087, Italian sailors from Bari in Apulia seized part of

7701-405: The Christian society of Byzantium to create a large network of hospitals ( iatreia , ιατρεία ) and almshouses, and a religious and social model largely justified by the existence of the poor and born out of the Christian transformation of classical society. Byzantine state and society relied on the Hellenistic system of joint tax liability due to the easy handling, fast and simple revenue for

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7852-506: The Fourth Crusade of 1204. While this Latin term for the ancient Hellenes could be used neutrally, its use by Westerners from the 9th century onwards in order to challenge Byzantine claims to ancient Roman heritage rendered it a derogatory exonym for the Byzantines who barely used it, mostly in contexts relating to the West, such as texts relating to the Council of Florence , to present

8003-454: The Greek concepts of charity for the sake of the polis ; nevertheless it was the Christian concepts attested in the Bible that animated their giving habits, and specifically the examples of Basil of Caesarea (who is the Greek equivalent of Santa Claus ), Gregory of Nyssa , and John Chrysostom . The number of the poor fluctuated in the many centuries of Byzantium's existence, but they provided

8154-436: The Greek writer Philostratus . Christian storytellers were known to adapt older pagan legends and attribute them to Christian saints. As Apollonius's hometown of Tyana was not far from Myra, Lendering contends that many popular stories about Apollonius may have become attached to Saint Nicholas. Accounts of Saint Nicholas's life agree on the essence of his story, but modern historians disagree regarding how much of this story

8305-649: The Julian Calendar's 6 December and Gregorian Calendar's 19 December. Nicholas had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, a practice celebrated on his feast day , 6 December. For those who still observe the Julian calendar the celebration currently takes place thirteen days later than it happens in the Gregorian calendar and Revised Julian calendar . Byzantine Greeks The Byzantine Greeks were

8456-603: The Norman knight William Pantulf . Pantulf took these relics to his hometown of Noron in Normandy, where they were placed in the local Church of St. Peter in June 1092. In 1096, the duke of Apulia gave several bones of Saint Nicholas to the count of Flanders , which he then enshrined in the Abbey of Watten . According to legend, in 1101, Saint Nicholas appeared in a vision to a French clerk visiting

8607-482: The Roman Empire's population were Christians , with most of them being urban population and generally found in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. The majority of people still honoured the old gods in the public Roman way of religio . As Christianity became a complete philosophical system, whose theory and apologetics were heavily indebted to the Classic word, this changed. In addition, Constantine, as Pontifex Maximus ,

8758-568: The Slavs of the Balkans and east-central Europe. This involved Cyril and Methodius having to translate the Christian Bible into the Slavs' own language, for which they invented an alphabet that became known as Old Church Slavonic . In the process, this cemented the Greek brothers' status as the pioneers of Slavic literature and those who first introduced Byzantine civilization and Orthodox Christianity to

8909-714: The Turks have both long regarded the unauthorized removal of the relics from Myra as a blatant theft, but the people of Bari have instead maintained that it was a rescue mission to save the bones from the Turkish invaders. A legend, shown on the ceiling of the Basilica di San Nicola, holds that Nicholas once visited Bari and predicted that his bones would one day rest there. Prior to the translation of Nicholas's relics to Bari, his following had been known in western Europe, but it had not been extremely popular. In autumn of 1096, Norman and Frankish soldiers mustered in Bari in preparation for

9060-680: The Western viewpoint. The ancient name Hellenes was synonymous to " pagan " in popular use, but was revived as an ethnonym in the Middle Byzantine period (11th century). While in the West the term "Roman" acquired a new meaning in connection with the Catholic Church and the Bishop of Rome , the Greek form "Romaioi" remained attached to the Greeks of the Eastern Roman Empire. The term "Byzantine Greeks"

9211-438: The air") which depended on the village's population and ranged between 4 and 20 gold coins annually. Their diet consisted of mainly grains and beans and in fishing communities fish was usually substituted for meat . Bread , wine , and olives were important staples of Byzantine diet with soldiers on campaign eating double-baked and dried bread called paximadion (Greek: παξιμάδιον). As in antiquity and modern times,

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9362-449: The beginning of the Byzantine Empire, under Emperor Constantine the Great ( r.  306–337 ), only a small part, about 10%, of the population was Christian . Use of the Greek language was already widespread in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire when Constantine moved its capital to Constantinople, although Latin was the language of the imperial administration. From the reign of Emperor Heraclius ( r.  610–641 ), Greek

9513-484: The bone they tested comes from the left pubis , and the only pelvis bone in the collection at Bari is the left ilium . In the absence of DNA testing, however, it is not yet possible to know for certain whether the pelvis is from the same man. Among Greeks and Italians he is a favorite of sailors, fishermen , ships and sailing. As a result, and over time, he has become the patron saint of several cities which maintain harbours . In centuries of Greek folklore , Nicholas

9664-512: The bronze statue was returned (albeit without its original high pedestal) to a corner nearer the church. On 28 December 2009, the Turkish government announced that it would be formally requesting the return of Saint Nicholas's skeletal remains to Turkey from the Italian government. Turkish authorities asserted that Nicholas himself desired to be buried at his episcopal town, and that his remains were illegally removed from his homeland. In 2017, an archaeological survey at St. Nicholas Church, Demre

9815-509: The center of the Orthodox world, with subordinate metropolitan sees and archbishoprics in the territory of Asia Minor and the Balkans, now lost to Byzantium, as well as in Caucasus, Russia and Lithuania. The Church remained the most stable element in the Byzantine Empire." In terms of religion, Byzantine Greek Macedonia is also significant as being the home of Saints Cyril and Methodius , two Greek brothers from Thessaloniki (Salonika) who were sent on state-sponsored missions to proselytize among

9966-418: The church of Constantinople became, between the 6th and 11th centuries, the richest and most influential centre of Christendom . Even when the Byzantine Empire was reduced to only a shadow of its former self, the Church, as an institution, exercised so much influence both inside and outside the imperial frontiers as never before. As George Ostrogorsky points out: "The Patriarchate of Constantinople remained

10117-404: The church without authorization and brought them to their hometown, where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola . The remaining bone fragments from the sarcophagus were later removed by Venetian sailors and taken to Venice during the First Crusade . Very little is known about Saint Nicholas's historical life. Any writings Nicholas himself may have produced have been lost and he

10268-405: The consul Ablabius, telling him that they had not really put down the revolt, but instead encouraged their own soldiers to join it. The generals' enemies also bribed Ablabius and he had the three generals imprisoned. Nicholas then made his dream appearances and the three generals were set free. In 325, Nicholas is said to have attended the First Council of Nicaea , where he is said to have been

10419-425: The council, who knew all the notable bishops of the period, nor is he mentioned by the historian Eusebius , who was also present at the council. Adam C. English notes that lists of the attendees at Nicaea vary considerably, with shorter lists only including roughly 200 names, but longer lists including around 300. Saint Nicholas's name only appears on the longer lists, not the shorter ones. Nicholas's name appears on

10570-418: The council. Late, unsubstantiated legends claim that he was temporarily defrocked and imprisoned during the council for slapping the heretic Arius . Another famous late legend tells how he resurrected three children, who had been murdered and pickled in brine by a butcher planning to sell them as pork during a famine. Fewer than 200 years after Nicholas's death, the St. Nicholas Church was built in Myra under

10721-458: The crypt underneath the Basilica di San Nicola was dedicated as an Orthodox chapel with an iconostasis in commemoration of the recent lifting of the anathemas the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches had issued against each other during the Great Schism in 1054. In May 2017, following talks between Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a portion of the relics of St. Nicholas in Bari were sent on loan to Moscow. The relic

10872-419: The earliest attested and most famous incidents from his life, he is said to have rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them. Other early stories tell of him calming a storm at sea, saving three innocent soldiers from wrongful execution, and chopping down

11023-445: The early ninth century by Michael the Archimandrite (814–842), nearly 500 years after Nicholas's probable death. Despite its extremely late date, Michael the Archimandrite's Life of Saint Nicholas is believed to heavily rely on older written sources and oral traditions. The identity and reliability of these sources, however, remains uncertain. Catholic historian D. L. Cann and medievalist Charles W. Jones both consider Michael

11174-616: The eastern shore of the Hellespont , which out of 173 households classifies 113 as peasant and 60 as urban , which indicate other kinds of ancillary activities. The Treatise on Taxation , preserved in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, distinguishes between three types of rural settlements, the chorion (Greek: χωρίον) or village, the agridion (Greek: αγρίδιον) or hamlet, and the proasteion (Greek: προάστειον) or estate. According to

11325-458: The emperor as a representative or messenger of Christ , responsible particularly for the propagation of Christianity among pagans, and for the "externals" of the religion, such as administration and finances. The imperial role in the affairs of the Church never developed into a fixed, legally defined system, however. With the decline of Rome, and internal dissension in the other Eastern patriarchates,

11476-538: The end of the eleventh century when political machinations allowed the landed aristocracy to secure the throne for a century and more. Following that phase, however, the enterprising merchants bounced back and wielded real clout during the time of the Third Crusade . The reason Byzantine Greek merchants have often been neglected in historiography is not that they were any less able than their ancient or modern Greek colleagues in matters of trade. It rather originated with

11627-451: The equivalent and perhaps ancestor of the later Italian commenda . Eventually, the purchasing power of Byzantine merchants became such that it could influence prices in markets as far afield as Cairo and Alexandria . In reflection of their success, emperors gave merchants the right to become members of the Senate , that is to integrate themselves with the ruling elite. This had an end by

11778-400: The fact that Nicholas had a tomb that could be visited serves as the almost solitary definitive proof that he was a real historical figure. In his treatise De statu animarum post mortem (written c. 583), the theologian Eustratius of Constantinople cites Saint Nicholas of Myra's miracle of the three generals as evidence that souls may work independent from the body. Eustratius credits

11929-417: The fact that he was shown with a barrel led people to conclude that he was the patron saint of brewers. According to another story, during a great famine that Myra experienced in 311–312, a ship was in the port at anchor, loaded with wheat for the emperor in Constantinople. Nicholas invited the sailors to unload a part of the wheat to help in the time of need. The sailors at first disliked the request, because

12080-736: The faithful as they ask for his intercession . He is mentioned in the Liturgy of Preparation during the Divine Liturgy (Eastern Orthodox Eucharist ) and during the All-Night Vigil . Many Orthodox churches will have his icon , even if they are not named after him. In Oriental Orthodoxy , the Coptic Church observes the Departure of St. Nicholas on 10 Kiahk, or 10 Taḫśaś in Ethiopia, which corresponds to

12231-641: The first priest to enter the church that morning would be made bishop. Nicholas went to the church to pray and was therefore proclaimed the new bishop. He is said to have been imprisoned and tortured during the Great Persecution under the Emperor Diocletian (ruled 284–305), but was released under the orders of the Emperor Constantine the Great (ruled 306–337). This story sounds plausible, but

12382-456: The ground, released them from their chains, and angrily chastised a juror who had accepted a bribe. According to Jona Lendering, this story directly parallels an earlier story in Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana , in which Apollonius prevents the execution of a man falsely condemned of banditry. Michael the Archimandrite also tells another story in which the consul Ablabius accepted

12533-460: The house under the cover of night and threw a purse filled with gold coins through the window opening into the house. The father immediately arranged a marriage for his first daughter, and after her wedding, Nicholas threw a second bag of gold through the same window late at night. According to Michael the Archimandrite's account, after the second daughter was married, the father stayed awake for at least two "nights" and caught Saint Nicholas in

12684-425: The imperial court in Constantinople . This society included various classes of people that were neither exclusive nor immutable. The most characteristic were the poor, the peasants, the soldiers, the teachers, entrepreneurs, and clergy. According to a text dated to AD 533, a man was termed "poor" if he did not have 50 gold coins ( aurei ), which was a modest though not negligible sum. The Byzantines were heirs to

12835-479: The intimate connection between Church and State, a legacy of Roman cultus . Also, the creation of a Christian philosophy that guided Byzantine Greeks in their everyday lives. And finally, the dichotomy between the Christian ideals of the Bible and classical Greek paideia which could not be left out, however, since so much of Christian scholarship and philosophy depended on it. These shaped Byzantine Greek character and

12986-462: The island was known as "Saint Nicholas Island" and today it is known in Turkish as Gemiler Adasi, meaning "Island of Boats", in reference to Saint Nicholas's traditional role as the patron saint of seafarers. The church was built in the fourth century, around the time of Nicholas's death, and is typical of saints' shrines from that time period. Nicholas was the only major saint associated with that part of Turkey. The church where historians believe he

13137-486: The joy of their new owners. Vials of myrrh from his relics have been taken all over the world for centuries, and can still be obtained from his church in Bari. Even up to the present day, a flask of manna is extracted from the tomb of Saint Nicholas every year on 6 December (the Saint's feast day ) by the clergy of the basilica. The myrrh is collected from a sarcophagus which is located in the basilica vault and could be obtained in

13288-475: The keeping of bees , was as highly developed in Byzantium as it had been in Ancient Greece . Aside from agriculture, the peasants also laboured in the crafts, fiscal inventories mentioning smiths (Greek: χαλκεύς, chalkeus ), tailors (Greek: ράπτης, rhaptes ), and cobblers (Greek: τζαγγάριος, tzangarios ). During the Byzantine millennium, hardly a year passed without a military campaign. Soldiers were

13439-553: The majority of the infamous Constantinopolitan mob whose function was similar to the mob of the First Rome . However, while there are instances of riots attributed to the poor, the majority of civil disturbances were specifically attributable to the various factions of the Hippodrome like the Greens and Blues. The poor made up a non-negligible percentage of the population, but they influenced

13590-472: The modern Greek state until 1976, although Koine Greek remains the official language of the Greek Orthodox Church . As shown in the poems of Ptochoprodromos, an early stage of modern Greek had already been shaped by the 12th century and possibly earlier. Vernacular Greek continued to be known as "Romaic" ("Roman") until the 20th century. At the time of Constantine the Great (r. 306–337), barely 10% of

13741-437: The most common cultivations in the choraphia (Greek: χωράφια) were olive groves and vineyards . While Liutprand of Cremona , a visitor from Italy , found Greek wine irritating as it was often flavoured with resin ( retsina ) most other Westerners admired Greek wines, Cretan in particular being famous. While both hunting and fishing were common, the peasants mostly hunted to protect their herds and crops. Apiculture ,

13892-472: The name "Rhomaioi" (Romans) in their languages was most commonly translated as "Greki" (Greeks). Some Slavonic texts during the early medieval era also used the terms Rimljani or Romei . At least one 11th-century Bulgarian source is attested which refers to "Ellini rimski" (Roman Hellenes). In most medieval Bulgarian sources the Byzantine Emperors were the "Tsars of the Greeks" and the Byzantine Empire

14043-500: The name 'Hellene' rise to replace it, given the prior revival as self-identification from the 13th century onward by the Nicaenean elite and in the intellectual circles by Georgios Gemistos Plethon and John Argyropoulos , that sowed the seed for it. Today, the modern Greek people still sometimes use, in addition to the terms "Greeks" and "Hellenes", the Byzantine term "Romaioi," or "Romioi," ("Romans") to refer to themselves, as well as

14194-526: The ninth century, by which point the position of women had drastically declined. Nicholas is also said to have visited the Holy Land . The ship he was on was nearly destroyed by a terrible storm but he rebuked the waves, causing the storm to subside. Thus, Nicholas became venerated as the patron saint of sailors and travelers. While in Palestine , Nicholas is said to have lived in a crypt near Bethlehem , where

14345-519: The onset of puberty , which was followed shortly after by betrothal and marriage. Although marriage arranged by the family was the norm, romantic love was not unknown. Most women bore many children but few survived infancy, and grief for the loss of a loved one was an inalienable part of life. The main form of birth control was abstinence, and while there is evidence of contraception it seems to have been mainly used by prostitutes. Due to prevailing norms of modesty, women would wear clothing that covered

14496-609: The orders of Theodosius II over the site of the church where he had served as bishop, and his remains were moved to a sarcophagus in that church. In 1087, while the Greek Christian inhabitants of the region were subjugated by the newly arrived Muslim Seljuk Turks , and soon after the beginning of the East–West schism , a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed the major bones of Nicholas's skeleton from his sarcophagus in

14647-449: The perceptions of themselves and others. Christians at the time of Constantine's conversion made up only 10% of the population. This would rise to 50% by the end of the fourth century and 90% by the end of the fifth century. Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) then brutally mopped up the rest of the pagans, highly literate academics on one end of the scale and illiterate peasants on the other. A conversion so rapid seems to have been rather

14798-594: The pious, as was common for early Christian saints , and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the folklore of Santa Claus (" Saint Nick ") through Sinterklaas . Little is known about the historical Saint Nicholas. The earliest accounts of his life were written centuries after his death and probably contain legendary elaborations. He is said to have been born in the Anatolian seaport of Patara , Lycia , in Asia Minor to wealthy Christian parents. In one of

14949-451: The poor. These peasants lived within three kinds of settlements: the chorion or village, the agridion or hamlet , and the proasteion or estate . Many civil disturbances that occurred during the time of the Byzantine Empire were attributed to political factions within the Empire rather than to this large popular base. Soldiers among the Byzantine Greeks were at first conscripted amongst the rural peasants and trained on an annual basis. As

15100-596: The relationship between them and the West, particularly with Latin Europe , deteriorated. Relations were further damaged by a schism between the Catholic West and Orthodox East that led to the Byzantine Greeks being labeled as heretics in the West. Throughout the later centuries of the Byzantine Empire and particularly following the imperial coronation of the King of the Franks, Charlemagne ( r.  768–814 ), in Rome in 800,

15251-582: The relics of Saint Nicholas are also reputed to have been stolen from Myra by local Norman crusading knights in the twelfth century and buried near Thomastown , County Kilkenny , where a stone slab marks the site locally believed to be his grave. According to the Irish antiquarian John Hunt , the tomb probably actually belongs to a local priest from Jerpoint Abbey . Russian Orthodox Church announced on 22 September 2024 that Holy Myrrhbearers Cathedral in Baku received

15402-400: The relics the team has examined turn out to be too recent to have actually belonged to the saint to whom they are attributed, but he states, "This bone fragment, in contrast, suggests that we could possibly be looking at remains from St Nicholas himself." Kazan believes the pelvis fragment may come from the same individual as the skeleton divided between the churches in Bari and Venice, since

15553-501: The religious hierarchy mirrored the Empire's administrative divisions, the clergy were more ubiquitous than the emperor's servants. The issue of caesaropapism , while usually associated with the Byzantine Empire, is now understood to be an oversimplification of actual conditions in the Empire. By the fifth century, the Patriarch of Constantinople was recognized as first among equals of the four eastern Patriarchs and as of equal status with

15704-491: The remaining bones of Saint Nicholas, as well as those of several other bishops of Myra, from the church there, which was only guarded by four Orthodox monks, and brought them to Venice , where they deposited them in the San Nicolò al Lido. This tradition was lent credence in two scientific investigations of the relics in Bari and Venice, which confirmed that the relics in the two cities are anatomically compatible and may belong to

15855-614: The remaining fragments of his skeleton. In 1044, they dedicated the San Nicolò al Lido monastery basilica to him on the north end of the Lido di Venezia . According to a single chronicle written by an anonymous monk at this monastery, in 1100, a fleet of Venetian ships accompanied by Bishop Henri sailed past Myra on their way to Palestine for the First Crusade. Bishop Henri insisted for the fleet to turn back and set anchor in Myra. The Venetians took

16006-573: The remains of the saint from his burial church in Myra, over the objections of the Greek Orthodox monks in the church. Adam C. English describes the removal of the relics from Myra as "essentially a holy robbery " and notes the thieves were not only afraid of being caught or chased after by the locals, but also the power of Saint Nicholas himself. Returning to Bari, they brought the remains with them and cared for them. The remains arrived on 9 May 1087. Two years later, Pope Urban II inaugurated

16157-511: The result of expediency than of conviction. The survival of the Empire in the East assured an active role of the emperor in the affairs of the Church. The Byzantine state inherited from pagan times the administrative and financial routine of organising religious affairs, and this routine was applied to the Christian Church . Following the pattern set by Eusebius of Caesarea , the Byzantines viewed

16308-655: The reverse was not unknown, as in Theodore Prodromos's description of a battered husband in the Ptochoprodromos poems. Although female life expectancy in Byzantium was lower than that of men, due to death in childbirth, wars and the fact that men married younger, female widowhood was still fairly common. Still, some women were able to circumvent societal strictures and work as traders, artisans, abbots, entertainers, and scholars. The traditional image of Byzantine Greek merchants as unenterprising benefactors of state aid

16459-520: The saint by Russian sculptor Gregory Pototsky was donated by the Russian government in 2000, and was given a prominent place in the square fronting the medieval Church of St Nicholas. In 2005, mayor Süleyman Topçu had the statue replaced by a red-suited plastic Santa Claus statue, because he wanted an image more recognisable to foreign visitors. Protests from the Russian government against this were successful, and

16610-417: The saint to have died at over seventy years of age and to have been of average height and slender-to-average build. He also suffered from severe chronic arthritis in his spine and pelvis. In 2004, at the University of Manchester , researchers Caroline Wilkinson and Fraco Introna reconstructed the saint's face based on Martino's examination. The review of the data revealed that the historical Saint Nicholas

16761-406: The same act of charity toward the third daughter. The father fell on his knees, thanking him, and Nicholas ordered him not to tell anyone about the gifts. The scene of Nicholas's secret gift-giving is one of the most popular scenes in Christian devotional art, appearing in icons and frescoes from across Europe. Although depictions vary depending on time and place, Nicholas is often shown wearing

16912-517: The same person. It is said that someone dies every time the bones of Saint Nicholas in Venice are disturbed. The last time the bones were examined was in July 1992. Because of Nicholas's skeleton's long confinement in Myra, after it was brought to Bari, the demand for pieces of it rose. Small bones quickly began to disperse across western Europe. The sailors who had transported the bones gave one tooth and two fragments chipped from Nicholas's sarcophagus to

17063-434: The scene became so widely reproduced that, rather than showing the whole scene, artists began to merely depict Saint Nicholas with three naked children and a wooden barrel at his feet. According to English, eventually, people who had forgotten or never learned the story began misinterpreting representations of it. That Saint Nicholas was shown with children led people to conclude he was the patron saint of children; meanwhile,

17214-400: The shop nearby. The liquid gradually seeps out of the tomb, but it is unclear whether it originates from the body within the tomb, or from the marble itself; since the town of Bari is a harbour, and the tomb is below sea level , there have been several natural explanations proposed for the manna fluid, including the transfer of seawater to the tomb by capillary action . In 1966, a vault in

17365-471: The shrine at Bari and told him to take one of his bones with him to his hometown of Port , near Nancy . The clerk took a finger bone back with him to Port, where a chapel was built to Saint Nicholas. Port became an important center of devotion in the following of Nicholas and, in the fifteenth century, a church known as the Basilique Saint-Nicolas was built there dedicated to him. The town itself

17516-438: The soldiers. As with the peasantry, many soldiers performed ancillary activities, like medics and technicians . Selection for military duty was annual with yearly call-ups and great stock was placed on military exercises, during the winter months, which formed a large part of a soldier's life. Until the 11th century, the majority of the conscripts were from rural areas, while the conscription of craftsmen and merchants

17667-411: The south and southeast. These influences, as well as an influx of people of Arabic, Celtic, Germanic, Turkic, and Slavic backgrounds, supplied medieval Greek with many loanwords that have survived in the modern Greek language. From the 11th century onward, there was also a steady rise in the literary use of the vernacular. Following the Fourth Crusade , there was increased contact with the West; and

17818-418: The state are the peasantry ( geōrgikē , γεωργική , "farmers") and the soldiers ( stratiōtikē , στρατιωτική ). Peasants lived mostly in villages, whose name changed slowly from the classical kome ( κώμη ) to the modern chorio ( χωριό ). While agriculture and herding were the dominant occupations of villagers they were not the only ones. There are records for the small town of Lampsakos , situated on

17969-413: The state did allocate to soldiers, however, from the 12th century onwards, were the tax revenues from some estates called pronoiai ( πρόνοιαι ). As in antiquity, the basic food of the soldier remained the dried biscuit bread, though its name had changed from boukelaton ( βουκελάτον ) to paximadion . Byzantine education was the product of an ancient Greek educational tradition that stretched back to

18120-446: The state from the different towns and villages chorio , komai mostly made up of peasants, who were the main income. There are no reliable figures as to the numbers of the peasantry, yet it is widely assumed that the vast majority of Byzantine Greeks lived in rural and agrarian areas. In the Taktika of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912), the two professions defined as the backbone of

18271-546: The story of the resurrection of the pickled children is a late medieval addition to the legendary biography of Saint Nicholas and that it is not found in any of his earliest Lives . Although this story seems bizarre and horrifying to modern audiences, it was tremendously popular throughout the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period , and widely beloved by ordinary folk. It is depicted in stained glass windows, wood panel paintings, tapestries, and frescoes. Eventually,

18422-455: The story's authenticity, notes that a similar story is told in Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana , in which Apollonius gives money to an impoverished father but posits that Michael the Archimandrite's account is markedly different. Philostratus does not mention the fate of the daughters and, in his story, Apollonius's generosity is purely motivated out of sympathy for the father; in Michael

18573-475: The story's late attestation, it "has no historical value." Jona Lendering, however, defends the veracity and historicity of the incident, arguing that, as it was embarrassing and reflects poorly on Nicholas's reputation, it is inexplicable why later hagiographers would have invented it. Later versions of the legend embellish it, making the heretic Arius himself and having Nicholas punch him rather than merely slapping him with his open hand. In these versions of

18724-663: The story, Nicholas is also imprisoned, but Christ and the Virgin Mary appear to him in his cell. He tells them he is imprisoned "for loving you" and they free him from his chains and restore his vestments. The scene of Nicholas slapping Arius is celebrated in Eastern Orthodox icons and episodes of Saint Nicholas at Nicaea are shown in a series of paintings from the 1660s in the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari . One story tells how during

18875-652: The tenth line of a list of attendees at the Council of Nicaea included by Theodore Lector in the Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome , written sometime between 510 and 515. A single, offhand mention of Nicholas of Myra also occurs in the biography of another saint, Saint Nicholas of Sion , who apparently took the name "Nicholas" to honor him. The Life of Saint Nicholas of Sion , written around 250 years after Nicholas of Myra's death, briefly mentions Nicholas of Sion visiting Nicholas's tomb to pay homage to him. According to Jeremy Seal,

19026-586: The term "Romaic" ("Roman") to refer to their Modern Greek language. During most of the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Rhōmaîoi ( Ῥωμαῖοι , "Romans", meaning citizens of the Roman Empire ), a term which in the Greek language had become synonymous with Christian Greeks. The Latinizing term Graikoí (Γραικοί, "Greeks") was also used, though its use was less common, and nonexistent in official Byzantine political correspondence, prior to

19177-483: The three innocent men about to be executed and the three generals aided him in stopping the execution. Eustathius attempted to flee on his horse but Nicholas stopped his horse and chastised him for his corruption. Eustathius, under the threat of being reported directly to the Emperor, repented of his corrupt ways. Afterward, the generals succeeded in ending the rebellion and were promoted by Constantine to even higher status. The generals' enemies, however, slandered them to

19328-490: The time and sometimes in villages. Nikolaos Oikonomides , focusing on 13th-century Byzantine literacy in Western Asia Minor, states that Byzantine society had "a completely literate church, an almost completely literate aristocracy, some literate horsemen, rare literate peasants and almost completely illiterate women." Ioannis Stouraitis estimates that the percentage of the Empire's population with some degree of literacy

19479-521: The time of testing, was in the possession of Father Dennis O'Neill, a priest from St Martha of Bethany Church in Illinois. The results of the radiocarbon dating confirmed that the pelvis dates to the fourth century AD, around the same time that Saint Nicholas would have died, and is not a medieval forgery. The bone was one of the oldest the Oxford team had ever examined. According to Professor Higham, most of

19630-534: The way history was written in Byzantium, which was often under the patronage of their competitors, the court, and land aristocracy. The fact that they were eventually surpassed by their Italian rivals is attributable to the privileges sought and acquired by the Crusader States within the Levant and the dominant maritime violence of the Italians. Unlike in Western Europe where priests were clearly demarcated from

19781-455: The wheat had to be weighed accurately and delivered to the emperor. Only when Nicholas promised them that they would not suffer any loss for their consideration did the sailors agree. When they arrived later in the capital, they made a surprising find: the weight of the load had not changed, although the wheat removed in Myra was enough for two full years and could even be used for sowing. It has long been traditionally assumed that Saint Nicholas

19932-439: The whole of their body except their hands. While women among the poor sometimes wore sleeveless tunics , most women were obliged to cover even their hair with the long maphorion ( μαφόριον ) veil. Women of means, however, spared no expense in adorning their clothes with exquisite jewelry and fine silk fabrics. Divorces were hard to obtain even though there were laws permitting them. Husbands would often beat their wives, though

20083-528: Was 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) in height and had a broken nose, which had partially healed, revealing that the injury had been suffered ante mortem . The broken nose appeared to conform with hagiographical reports that Saint Nicholas had been beaten and tortured during the Diocletianic Persecution . The facial reconstruction was produced by Caroline Wilkinson at the University of Manchester and

20234-400: Was a profoundly literate one. Based on information from an extensive array of Byzantine documents from different periods (i.e. homilies, Ecloga , etc.), Robert Browning concluded that, while books were luxury items and functional literacy (reading and writing) was widespread, but largely confined to cities and monasteries, access to elementary education was provided in most cities for much of

20385-502: Was also used by the Byzantines' later Ottoman rivals, and its Turkish equivalent Rûm , "Roman", continues to be used officially by the government of Turkey to denote the Greek Orthodox natives ( Rumlar ) of Istanbul , as well as the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( Turkish : Rum Ortodoks Patrikhanesi , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate" ). Among Slavic populations of southeast Europe, such as Bulgarians and Serbs

20536-642: Was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya Province , Turkey ) during the time of the Roman Empire . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession , he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker . Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, toymakers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His reputation evolved among

20687-588: Was at most 15–20% based primarily on the mention of illiterate Byzantine tourmarchai in the Tactica of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912). In Byzantium, the elementary school teacher occupied a low social position and taught mainly from simple fairy tale books ( Aesop's Fables were often used). However, the grammarian and rhetorician , teachers responsible for the following two phases of education, were more respected. These used classical Greek texts like Homer's Iliad or Odyssey and much of their time

20838-524: Was kept by both Ottoman Greeks and their Ottoman overlords throughout the years of the Ottoman rule, increasingly transforming into an ethnic identity, marked by Greek language and adherence to Orthodox Christianity , a precursor that shaped the modern Greek ethnic identity . The self-identity as Roman among the Greeks only began to lose ground by the time of the Greek Revolution , when multiple factors saw

20989-563: Was kept in the San Nicola in Carcere in Rome. This church, whose name means "Saint Nicholas in Chains", was built on the site of a former municipal prison. Stories quickly developed about Nicholas himself having been held in that prison. Mothers would come to the church to pray to Saint Nicholas for their jailed sons to be released and repentant criminals would place votive offerings in the church. As

21140-615: Was known as "Tsardom of the Greeks". Both rulers of the Despotate of Epirus and the Empire of Nicaea were also "Greek tsars ruling over Greek people". Equally, among Nordic people such as Icelanders , Varangians ( Vikings ) and other Scandinavian people, "Rhomaioi" were called "Grikkr" (Greeks). There are various runic inscriptions left in Norway, Sweden and even in Athens by travellers and members of

21291-402: Was limited to literacy and the Bible ; a famous exception is the princess Anna Komnene (1083–1153), whose Alexiad displays a great depth of erudition, and the renowned 9th century Byzantine poet and composer Kassiani . The majority of a young girl's daily life would be spent in household and agrarian chores, preparing herself for marriage. For most girls, childhood came to an end with

21442-535: Was on display for veneration at Christ the Savior Cathedral before being taken to Saint Petersburg in mid-June prior to returning to Bari. More than a million people lined up in Moscow for a momentary glimpse of the gilded ark holding one of the saint's ribs. The sailors from Bari took only the main bones of Nicholas's skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the grave. The city of Venice had interest in obtaining

21593-423: Was originally buried in his home town of Myra, where his relics are later known to have been kept, but some recent archaeological evidence indicates that Saint Nicholas may have originally been entombed in a rock-cut church located at the highest point on the small Turkish island of Gemile , only twenty miles away from his birthplace of Patara. Nicholas's name is painted on part of the ruined building. In antiquity,

21744-439: Was originally entombed is at the western end of the great processional way. In the mid-7th century, Gemile was vulnerable to attack by Arab fleets, so Nicholas's remains appear to have been moved from the island to the city of Myra, where Nicholas had served as bishop for most of his life. Myra is located roughly 40 km (25 mi) east of Gemile and its location further inland made it safer from seafaring Arab forces. It

21895-450: Was reported to have found a temple below the modern church, with excavation work to be done that will allow researchers to determine whether it still holds Nicholas's body. After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Byzantine Empire temporarily lost control over most of Asia Minor to the invading Seljuk Turks , and so Greek Christians of Myra became subjects of the Turks. At the same time

22046-410: Was responsible for the correct cultus or veneratio of the deity which was in accordance with former Roman practice. The move from the old religion to the new entailed some elements of continuity as well as break with the past, though the artistic heritage of paganism was literally broken by Christian zeal. Christianity led to the development of a few phenomena characteristic of Byzantium. Namely,

22197-575: Was seen as "The Lord of the Sea", often described by modern Greek scholars as a kind of Christianized version of Poseidon . In modern Greece, he is still easily among the most recognizable saints and 6 December finds many cities celebrating their patron saint. He is also the patron saint of all of Greece and particularly of the Hellenic Navy . In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saint Nicholas's memory

22348-529: Was shown on a BBC2 TV program The Real Face of Santa . In 2014, the Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University produced an updated reconstruction of Saint Nicholas's face. In 2017, two researchers from Oxford University , Professor Tom Higham and Doctor Georges Kazan, radiocarbon dated a fragment of a pelvis claimed to belong to Saint Nicholas. The fragment originally came from a church in Lyon, France and, at

22499-474: Was taken with detailed word-for-word explication. Books were rare and very expensive and likely only possessed by teachers who dictated passages to students. Women have tended to be overlooked in Byzantine studies as Byzantine society left few records about them. Women were disadvantaged in some aspects of their legal status and in their access to education, and limited in their freedom of movement. The life of

22650-490: Was the bishop of the city of Myra , also in Lycia. Recognizing his nephew's calling, Nicholas's uncle ordained him as a priest. After his parents died from an epidemic, Nicholas is said to have distributed their wealth to the poor. In his most famous exploit, which is first attested in Michael the Archimandrite's Life of Saint Nicholas , Nicholas heard of a devout man who had once been wealthy but had lost all of his money due to

22801-474: Was the predominant language amongst the populace and also replaced Latin in administration. At first, the Byzantine Empire had a multi-ethnic character, but following the loss of the non-Greek speaking provinces with the 7th century Muslim conquests it came to be dominated by the Byzantine Greeks, who inhabited the heartland of the later empire: modern Cyprus , Greece , Turkey , and Sicily , and portions of southern Bulgaria , Crimea , and Albania . Over time,

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